EDUCATION

SCHOOLS

Matthew is a specialist in music education and accessibility and has led the choral activity on Opera North's award winning In Harmony programme. As a choral expert he works closely with The Voices Foundation delivering training to teachers and music leaders across the UK to lead school choirs, classroom singing and singing assemblies. Matthew has worked with teachers and students from KS1 through to A-level. Matthew also conducts and devises large scale, aspirational school singing celebrations.

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS

Matthew has a wealth of experience in creating and delivering educational workshops in schools and other educational settings, particularly around the themes and stories of Opera.
He has developed workshops to introduce young people to many operas including Ravel’s “L'enfant et les sortilèges”, a workshop which he toured in venues across the North of England, and worked with CBBC to create and deliver a workshop which introduced children to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
Matthew has conducted and devised some of Opera North’s most prominent educational projects including the Big Sing. Through this project Matthew has helped to commission works by notable composers Will Todd and Rachel Portman as well as conducting performances including with the professional Opera North Chorus.

YOUTH ENSEMBLES

Matthew has worked with many of the UK’s most outstanding youth ensembles.

After taking part in the Hallé’s Vocal Leader Mentoring scheme in 2014, he was invited to become the Assistant Director of the Hallé Children’s Choir to learn alongside Shirley Court. In 2017 Matthew was engaged to assist on the Opera North Youth Chorus’s production of “Pirates Revisited”, a reimagined telling of the classic G&S production.

Matthew held the position as the Assistant Director for the Opera North Youth Ensembles from September 2017-2019 where he prepared the choruses for many prestigious concerts with the Opera North Orchestra and Chorus.

Matthew currently holds the position as Assistant Director of the Hallé Youth Training and Hallé Youth Choirs, preparing the choirs for their concert season at the Bridgewater Hall and their annual summer tour.

​

He is also the founder and artistic director of Sale Youth Choirs.